Earlier this week, D.C. Democrats breathed a sigh of relief when Oregon’s Fifth District Democratic primary voters nominated state Representative Janelle Bynum, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s preferred candidate to take on  GOP Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer in November.
But as she tries to shore up support from independents and suburban voters over the next few months, Bynum may struggle to answer questions about her approach to crime: including her 2020 endorsement of Oregon’s since-repealed drug decriminalization ballot measure, and her prior fundraising support for newly ousted Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt.Bynum wasn’t listed on the endorsement section of Schmidt’s campaign website this cycle as she was in 2020. Back then, Bynum lavished praise on Schmidt, a progressive former assistant district attorney who rose to prominence during the summer of George Floyd protests. The progressive criminal-justice policies that rocketed him to victory as Portland’s top prosecutor in 2020 with more than three-quarters of the vote led to his undoing earlier this week when his constituents voted to replace him with his former deputy amid backlash to crime, homelessness, and the city’s open-air drug crisis.
